I'll be driving x-country around that time. ALL of my climbing plans have gone to crap. When you say begining of sept. when roughly are you thinking? I lead up to 5.9 as well and I'm coming off a finger tendon injury.

sorry to disapoint you but, here is some current info on the needles I recieved from the Southern Sierra Climbers Ass.

better ck this site for updates

http://www.r5.fs.fed.us/sequoia/incident/fireinfoam.htm

The fire is not out, but is no longer considered a major threat to the west and south. The fire continues to burn to the north and east, into the Golden Trout Wilderness and on the Kern Plateau. Forest Service officials say it probably won't be out "till the snow falls."

Although the Western Divide Highway is now open and some of the more popular campgrounds near the Ponderosa are open, nearly everything on the east side of the Western Divide Highway remains closed, including the roads into the Needles and Dome Rock, forest service officials say.

I talked to rangers at the Springville station today. Nobody's saying it for the record, but off the record they're saying we can expect the Needles and surrounding areas to be closed for the season.

Well that news ain't all bad if you can only lead up to 5.9. Needles requires a bit more. I should add, there are a number of great places to climb in the area. Hermit Spire, Trilogy Rock, you might be able to access VooDoo Dome from needle Rock creek(below). There's some good climbing along the river also. Good luck

Hey Guys, Your best bet would be to head to Tuolumne Meadows in Yosemite. It is higher up therefore cooler and so far there are no fires burning there. There is also plenty of moderate routes to climb. The Needles have 5.9's but they are pretty stiff. They seem more like mid-10's to me. Have fun....